Ten Generations
by Blue Giraffe
Summary: Ten generations after the Air Nomad Genocide, the first airbender to be born outside of Avatar Aang's descendants is discovered at the Southern Air Temple.
1. -Part One-

_Disclaimer and Author's Notes at the end._

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><p>Ten generations.<p>

That was how long it took for the first airbender to be born to non-benders since the start of the Hundred Year War.

He was the first child of a pair of young air acolytes at the Southern Air Temple, ironically enough. Their parents and grandparents had been air acolytes as well, and each of them had a great-grandparent who had met the great Avatar Aang for themselves. They had settled at the Southern Air Temple several years after the founding of Republic City, preferring the calmer, more isolated lifestyle of an Air Temple. Both of his parents' ancestry could be traced to the islands around the Western Air Temple, and back in the day there had been whispers of abandoned babies being smuggled from the waters of the still-burning Air Temple.

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><p>He was born a month early and did not cry immediately after birth. Rather, he sat there silently, watching and taking in this strange new world he had been born into. Even after it had been determined that there was no residual fluids in his lungs and he was breathing normally, he was well into his first day of life before he first cried, but when he cried the entire temple was certainly aware.<p>

He was a quiet, sickly baby for the first several months of his life. His premature status had left his immune system underdeveloped, and as a result suffered from almost every disease known to man, from dragon-pox to the measles before his first birthday. After that milestone his illnesses slowed down, but he continued to catch cold more often than other children.

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><p>Although he was born in the spring and his birthday was quietly celebrated by all of his family and their closest friends, his birth was celebrated traditionally at the spring equinox, some three weeks later. It was celebrated along with the birth of all those born since the last spring equinox, as per tradition. The air acolytes gave thanks to the spirits and their ancestors for the life and health of all those born in the last year, and asked to be blessed with the presence of a bender.<p>

Little did they know there was already one in their midst.

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><p>It was also at this ceremony that he received his name, in front of the population of the entire temple, along with every other baby born in the last year. He was the last to be named, but that didn't bother his parents; they'd had his name chosen since the day his mother Sonam had become pregnant, and they were in no rush.<p>

And so Choden, the first natural-born airbender in more than two hundred years, was named.

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><p>His second birthday passed by quietly. By his third he was toddling around, every room and hall of the temple a new adventure.<p>

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><p>At four the children were allowed to play with the young flying bison. Unfortunately, the flying bison population had not recovered as quickly as the air acolytes, so the children were not bonded to a bison as in the time of Avatar Aang. Instead some bison were housed at each Air Temple for the collective use of the acolytes at the temple. Many favored one bison over the rest, and Choden was no exception. His first day in the nursery he waddled away from his peers, to a bison that was situated away from the others. This one was only a bit smaller than the others, the runt of the litter who was already falling behind. Choden was drawn to the bison, and wrapped his arms around the bison's head.<p>

"We were just trying to decide on a name for this little girl," the head of the nursery commented to Choden. "Do you have a name in mind for your new friend?"

Choden stepped back and looked into the great brown eyes of the bison before giggling affectionately, "Zaki!"

For the first week, Choden and Zaki were inseparable. On the eighth day his mother quietly reminded him that Zaki probably had other friends to play with, and that he could visit her when all the other little boys and girls visited the sky bison in the afternoons.

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><p>Six weeks later, Choden came down with another cold and spent three days with his mother instead of at the nursery, so as to avoid infecting the other children. By the third day his fever was gone but he was still coughing often enough to disturb anyone in the room with him. Sonam opted out of midday meditation to keep from disturbing the other monks, and was on her way to their rooms to put Choden down for a nap when she got the surprise of her life.<p>

Sonam had paused to speak with another mother with a child about Choden's age, with Choden planted firmly on her hip. Choden's coughs punctuated their conversation, frequently enough that it seemed as if he just had something tickling the back of his throat.

His coughs turned to violent sneezes of the the painful, body-wracking variety. Sonam was just about to turn away from her friend after a particularly strong sneeze when her arms were suddenly empty.

"Sonam! Look!"

Choden was ten feet in the air and fell fast. Sonam caught him in her outstretched arms and laughed.

"I don't believe it." Sonam said. "My own son, an airbender! A real, live, airbender!"

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><p><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> The wonderful world of Avatar and the Legend of Korra belong to the wildly creative Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino.

**Author's Note:** First of all, thanks for reading!

Obviously, this was written well before even the first trailer of season 3 of Legend of Korra, so it's AU from the end of season 2. I also totally disregarded the last couple of episodes of the second season of Legend of Korra, because honestly it was easier to write that way.

This is the first part of what should be about 4-5 parts, smaller than what I'd consider a real chapter but longer than a drabble. I have the second part already written and most of the third, and plan to write the rest in the next couple of weeks. I'll make no promises for a rigid update schedule, but I'll try to update every couple of weeks and I'll have it finished before college in September.

_(First published 11 July 2014)_


	2. -Part Two-

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The air acolytes had shunned recent advances in technology, in alignment with the traditions of detachment. However, within the last decade a phone line was run into each air temple, providing them with minimal contact with the outside world.

It was on this phone that the temple elder, Tong-Tsu, sat, waiting for his long-distance phone call to connect.

###

Air Temple Island sat in the middle of Yue Bay, and its lone occupant sat at a desk in a room that faced the open sea.

Meelo had never understood how his father had possibly kept up with all the paperwork involved in being a Councilman; he could barely wade through the mail he received every day, much less the official communiqués and messages from the city and the air temples. His family had left for a two-week vacation on Ember Island, his sisters were in the south visiting distant family, and his brother was at the Northern Air Temple for the season. He had promised his wife that he would join them for the second week of their annual vacation, but the longer he stared at the stack of papers on his desk the less likely this seemed.

He had just mustered up the will to pick up a pen to being revisions on a bill when the phone rang.

He jumped as the pen dripped ink onto his notepaper, and he hurried to replace the pen in its well before the phone rang again.

He spoke to the operator briefly before accepting the call.

"Air Temple Island, Councilman Meelo speaking. I understand you're from the Southern Air Temple?"

###

Elder Tong-Tsu released a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "Yes, Councilman, we have an unprecedented situation down here..."

In plain, concise language, the elder explained exactly what had happened in the last few days at his temple. If he hadn't witnessed the bending himself in the days following the initial incident, he wouldn't have believed it himself. There hadn't been a naturally born bender in...

"Ten generations, I believe, Councilman. You have to understand, your family are the only people with any true experience with this sort of thing. Nobody else..." he trailed off, the implication standing.

"My sisters are currently at the South Pole visiting family. I'll advise them to stop by on their way home some time within the week."

The Councilman paused, then added: "Best of luck to you with the boy. Speaking from - ah - _personal_ experience here, as soon as he figures out that he can shoot _air_ from his _hands_, among o_ther_-" he cut himself off as he heard a crash and a shout in the background. "Sounds like you're about to figure it out for yourself, good luck with that!"

###

Councilman Meelo slammed the phone down with such force that the desk shook. Shaking his head to clear his mind from flashbacks from his own youth, as well as that of his three children, he muttered to himself, "I need a vacation."

###

"What exactly did Meelo say was waiting on us at the Southern Air Temple?" Jinora asked as her sky bison descended through the clouds surrounding the temple.

"And I quote, 'a big surprise,'" Ikki said, reading his letter again. It had arrived the day before from their brother in the city, dated another day before that. "Vague as ever, but we might as well see what he's talking about, or it'll be like the Unagi all over again..." The sisters rolled their eyes at the memory.

"The last person to ride the Unagi was Grandpa Aang, how was I supposed to know he found and rode the spirits-damned thing in the one night we spent on Kyoshi?"

"Calm yourself Jinora, that was more than thirty years ago!" Ikki laughed as their steed touched down in a relatively empty courtyard. A half-dozen acolytes surrounded the bison, and offered aid to the two sexgenarians before they neatly alighted on a gust of wind.

"Masters Jinora and Ikki, we are privileged to have such honored guests at the Southern Air Temple."

"Elder Tong-Tsu, we are pleased to be here." Jinora said. Ikki conspicuously coughed behind her.

"Elder," Ikki began. "Our brother was a little... /_vague_/ about what you had to show us here. Could you please enlighten us as to the matter at hand?"

"You m-mean-" the Elder stuttered. "He didn't tell you- that is- Councilman Meelo didn't mention-"

"Not yet, Choden!" A woman shouted from the colonnade as a little boy ran into the courtyard.

"Hi! Hi!" The boy, Choden, said to each of them. The sisters watched him with objective curiosity. The little boy seemed to be about three or four years of age, and wore the traditional clothes of their people.

"Are you going to teach me how to fly!?" He asked, throwing his arms around Jinora's knees. "Pleeeeeease?"

Ikki bent down to get on Choden's level. "Sweetie, to be able to fly you have to be able to airbend-"

"I can airbend!" He shouted, and shot a puff of air at the ground to push himself into the sky.

Both Jinora and Ikki's mouths made silent O's.

"Sister dear," Ikki said, as the first one to recover from the shock minutes later. "I believe this calls for a recalculation of plans."

###

**Author's Note**: First of all, I'm a terrible person and this update is two months late and if you're reading this I love you.

In regards to the story, I acknowledge the fact that the Council was disbanded when Republic City elected their first President, but we're going to operate under the assumption that at some point in the future they're brought back as Cabinet-level positions (if you're familiar with American politics) that look after the interests of the other Nations in relation to Republic City, and Meelo is the Councilman representing the Air Nomads as well as the patriarch of the nation.

_(First Published 28 October 2014)_


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